1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides an agent for preventing deterioration of perfumes, fragrances, flavors, etc. (hereinafter these are collectively called flavors, and the agent is referred to as a flavor-retention agent) obtained from natural materials, inter alia, a potato plant. More particularly, the present invention relates to a flavor-retention agent for effectively preventing deterioration of flavors for use in foods.
2. Background Art
Organic substances such as oils and fats have long been known to be denatured by oxidation or heat, resulting in deterioration or loss of the traits of the substances. For prevention of denaturation of these substances, a number of anti-oxidants have been produced and reported. Among them, BHT, ascorbic acid, tocopherol compounds, and other substances are widely used, in view of their excellent anti-oxidation properties. Particularly, anti-oxidants formed of substances such as tocopherol compounds are “environmentally friendly” and harmless to the human body. Although these harmless substances are considered to be satisfactory in those points, improvement is still desired in their ability to stabilize a target organic substance.
In order to meet recent consumer tastes, a variety of flavors are generally added to foods. However, a drawback has been pointed out, in that the added flavors deteriorate during production, processing, or storage of foods, entailing deterioration of taste of the foods.
Since most flavors for use in foods are formed of organic substances, the aforementioned known anti-oxidants; e.g., BHT, α-tocopherol, and ascorbic acid, have been added to foods in order to prevent deterioration of flavors. However, BHT and α-tocopherol exhibit poor ability to prevent deterioration of flavors, and addition of ascorbic acid to some foods causes browning.
Beyond these agents for preventing deterioration of flavors for use in foods, Beverage Japan No. 179, p. 57-(1996) discloses chlorogenic acid serving as a flavor-retention agent, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 9-227456 discloses a specific ester serving as a flavor-retention agent. In the former case, a large amount of chlorogenic acid must be used, and the amounts of components having unfavorable odors increase. In addition to these disadvantages, chlorogenic acid thermally decomposes, and in some cases, it imparts a certain disagreeable taste to the foods to which it has been added. In the latter case, problematically large amount of the flavor-retention agent must be used in order to attain satisfactory retention of flavors.
Thus, demand has arisen for a flavor-retention agent which is harmless to the environment and the human body and has excellent ability to prevent deterioration of flavors. Particularly, demand has arisen for a flavor-retention agent for use in foods, which can prevent deterioration of flavors and does not impair appearance of foods.